BART Director Mark Foley told the Brentwood City Council that the agency has costs and revenue challenges.
At the June 9 Brentwood City Council Meeting, Foley continued his tour of providing BART updates to each city in his District—previously in the City of Antioch and City of Oakley.
According to Foley, the San Francisco Bay Area still has the highest adoption of remote work in the country where most people are going into the office 2-3 days a week which is representative of their ridership.
“We are about 50% of our pre-pandemic ridership during the week,” said Foley. “That has resulted in a $300-400 annual operating deficit because BART was build was on the concept that riders who pay for their fairs is what will help pay for the daily operations of the agency.”
Foley said pre-pandemic, 71% of the operating budget came from fares, that dropped to the 30% range which has caused the district to be short in operating funding.
While BART has an $1.2 billion operating budget, they are anticipating a $370 million structural deficit beginning in Fiscal Year 2027. — Note, since the presentation, BART approved a budget pushing the deficit to FY 2028.
Ultimately, BART needs to get riders back into the system explained Foley who says they are now looking at the fare model which worked for the first 50-years, now doesn’t work today.
Foley also said BART is the lowest per mile cost when compared to other rail agencies in the United States – noting during COVID, they reduced services by 40% overnight and only reduced 12% of the budget.
“Fixed rail does not easily scale back to just reducing a train. You still need to inspect all of the tracks. You still need to inspect all of the stations. You still need power. So even if you run less trains, you are still having a majority of your costs that are fixed,” said Foley.
Foley said in response, BART had looked at itself including bringing on an Inspector Genera (Note – Contra Costa County Grand Jury report says Inspector General Still Lacks any power or authority).
November 2026 Ballot Measure
Foley shared with the council the plans for the November 2026 ballot measure under SB 63 which authorized a 5-county sales tax measure: 0.5% in Alameda County, Contra Costa County, San Mateo County and Santa Clara County, and a 1% in San Francisco.
If approved by voters, it would provide BART with $310 million annually starting in FY 2028. It would also provide funding to Tri Delta Transit, County Connection and other operators.
Foley also shared in regards to the state loan, they would not take the loan unless they can pay it back. They would accept the terms, but hold the money in escrow. If voters approve the sales tax, they would then take the money and use it as bridge funding. If sales tax fails, they would not accept the loan given they could not pay it back.
If Tax Measure Fails:
BART would begin looking at closing its $376 million deficit which includes:
- Cuts begin in January 2027
- Cumulative 70% reduction in service
- 9pm closure
- 3-line service with 30 minute train frequences
- Up to 15 station closures and/or 25% of system track miles beginning July 2027
- Fare and parking increases up to 50%
- Approximately 1200 layoffs
Foley shared that he and Director Matt Rinn worked to change language to allow the Board to decide if/what stations will close because looking only at ridership numbers doesn’t talk about the impact to the community or the impact to Highway 4.
The Brentwood city council offered no comments or questions to Director Foley.
